This is a day by day diary of all the things I get up to on my business travels...

Friday, January 13, 2006

End of the first (working) week

It's Friday. Well it's Friday morning, which is almost Friday. And I guess yesterday was the most busy I've been since being in Bellevue. Work was mostly tweaking the latest version of the software, all in vein I know as the odds are when I open the build website (where we get the daily versions) there'll be a fixed version. Anyway, it means I can never finish which is good.

Yesterday started out pretty much the same as every day this week. After I finished my blog and did all my emails I continued to break the phone I had been given. After a few hours of that it was time to go grab a coffee. It's weird how much a part of daily life it is here... and how easy it is to do $10 a day on coffee. Theres a starbucks on the ground floor (lobby) of the local Microsoft building. They have this huuuuge foyer, with a 15ft tall Stone arch that has a fire in the middle. I'll take a photo of it today if we go there. It's pretty pretentious, but nice to sit by. As soon as I got back from my Grande Mocha with room for Whipped Cream and sprinkles, I was almost immidiatly accosted by one of the managers of the company who I had arranged to go to lunch with. So three of the middle brass and me went for an 'Authentic' Mexican meal. They were paying so I thought it best if I didnt mention the fact that a Mexican would probably choke if he were served refried beans, shredded chicken and lettuce on a fajita. But it was quite nice all the same. I was a bit gutted cus the dev team ("The Guys") mentioned they were going for Japanese.

So after an early lunch it was pretty much straight work till 5.30ish when people started talking about hitting the bar. I tagged along naturally, forgetting my Passport meaniong I had to run 5 minutes back to the office to get it. The bar kinda sucked. It was new and was swarming with people, and the waitresses were obviously shy of work experience. To cut a long story short, three of us got a beer (a Newcastle Brown Ale actually) and the glasses they were served in smelt of Chlorine. They were probably soaked in Chlorine they smelt so bad. And what was worse it took half an hour to speak to the manager to have the beers either replaced or taken off the bill. And then they left a comments and suggestions card! So I took advantage of that and gave em a bit of British Complaint Department. That'll learn em.

After two chlorinated beers, we (The Guys) went to the tap house which sells 140 beers on tap. I had two pints of Fullers ESB, which almost tasted better than it does in London. Even the Hoegarden looked fresh! So we all left gracefully and walked back toward the office, obviously to go get in the sober guys car. Nope, we went in to the elevator. And we went to the second floor. And we went in to the offiice. And everyone went back to their rooms, sat infront of their computers, and CARRIED ON WORKING! Admitidly it was only for half an hour, or an hour tops... But what the hell? So not wanting to be a stick in the mud I carried on working, drinking straight black coffee as I went.

I got a lift back to the hotel, and I watched ESPN till I fell asleep about 10.30pm, the latest I've stayed up till in America so far.

Today I plan on getting a cash advance from the company to the tune of $500. And with that money I will buy some 'groceries' and then go out for a pizza to the expence of the company. Hopefully I'll get to take a laptop back to the hotel over the weekend, so I can let you all know how the Seattle Seahawks do against the Washington Redskins.